San Miguel County extends solar moratorium
BOCC’s latest extension goes through mid-November 2024, but county’s draft regulations may be complete sooner
By Sophie Stuber, Planet contributor
The San Miguel Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) approved a resolution on Wednesday to extend an “emergency temporary moratorium” halting commercial solar and major utility projects.
San Miguel County is in the process of updating the Land Use Code to incorporate regulations on solar energy, renewables and major utilities. Last year, the BOCC adopted a resolution on May 24, 2023, to place a moratorium on solar and major utility projects until the draft of solar regulations is complete.
The board granted a six-month extension to the moratorium in November, which goes through May 15, 2024. The moratorium applies to all projects located partially or wholly within unincorporated San Miguel County.
Resolution 2024-15 will keep a moratorium in place until November 15, 2024.
“We are confident we can reach closure by then,” San Miguel County Planning Director Kaye Simonson said during the BOCC meeting on April 24.
The BOCC and the San Miguel Planning Commission had two joint work sessions in January and March to review the draft regulations and to take public comments. Another joint work session is planned for May 8.
“I really appreciate that the planning department has been so responsive to the public request for slowing the process down and having these joint meetings with the BOCC and the planning commission. I think they have been very productive,” BOCC member Anne Brown said during the meeting. “We’re getting close, but we don’t want to rush, and I think it’s important to extend the moratorium.”
Some county residents who have spoken in favor of renewable energy development in general, have also spoken against rushing solar utility projects through approval, especially in certain open space, residential and agricultural areas and have shared a number of concerns. Other residents are opposed to utility projects because they don’t want their neighborhoods to be impacted by development of this type.
Setbacks and wildlife habitats — from migrating animals and birds, including the resident Gunnison Sage-Grouse — are two of the concerns that have been shared by area residents at public meetings.
A very different concern arose when a grant from Inflation Reduction Act was awarded to the state to help provide the small town of Ophir with a microgrid for utility solar, and the town’s General Assembly ended up with a tie vote and the project didn’t advance.
“There were no setbacks,” resident Mark Campbell told the Daily Planet after the vote on Nov. 14, 2023. Campbell is one of the residents who wrote letters to help explain why some residents didn’t want the solar project to move forward. Without setbacks, residents felt like it would devalue properties and “the industry is mixed on where they say safe boundaries are,” he said.
The latest draft of the regulations, which were revised last month, includes building solar panels and projects with a 50-foot minimum distance from all property lines.
This latest draft of the solar regulations incorporates changes from community input.
The draft regulations have protections for wildlife and the watershed, particularly for the Gunnison Sage-Grouse’s habitat.
“The West End is home to a variety of ecosystems and critical habitat for Gunnison Sage-Grouse,” Mason Osgood, executive director of Sheep Mountain Alliance, told the Daily Planet.
The bird’s core population in Gunnison Basin is relatively stable, but the satellite populations have significantly declined. Their habitat is at risk from energy development and mining, invasive species, livestock grazing, climate change and fires. The Sage-Grouse was classified as a threatened species in 2014.
San Miguel County collaborates with regional environmental organizations and established a county-wide recovery plan for the Gunnison Sage-Grouse in 2020. Earlier this year, the BOCC also suggested a larger buffer zone around sage-grouse habitats, including 4-mile protections for industrial solar energy development.
“It’s incumbent on us to do our very best to preserve the remaining bird populations and try to enhance the future population,” BOCC member Lance Waring said.
The draft regulations would require assessments for all of the critical wildlife habitats, looking at migration routes, calving areas, summer and winter range, mating grounds, nesting grounds and endangered species habitat.
Large-scale solar projects are required to detail the potential impacts of projects on surface and groundwater quality and to propose solutions to help mitigate negative effects. The draft regulations would also have projects to map the floodplains, wetlands, riparian areas and fens that could be affected by solar development.
During public comment periods, some people have expressed concerns about large-scale solar projects, such as the proposed 100-megawatt solar development on Lone Cone Road at Wright’s Mesa in Norwood. The county said that it has not seen an official application from OneEnergy for this project, although locals have already spoken out against it during previous public meetings. In November, the BOCC agreed to continue agricultural leases around Lone Cone where the potential solar project would be.
Prior to Wednesday’s BOCC meeting, local residents Terri Lamers and Emily Masson submitted public comment letters requesting that the board extend the solar moratorium.
Associate Editor Ashley Bunton contributed to this story.
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